The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 33

THE ROANOKE TIMES JBSK Wjuh SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9 2007 No 2 LSI! 48 No 9 Virginia Tech 7 xV7j BAYOU BUS ES3 14 kv Sj jjLii j' U'''lUf 1 WMM j'' jdjlMM a 1 'M' Jp' "Im 1 IB aPU wf 4 a 7alBK' ix vra LmtMfr iwMhii 1 Ma 1 Or niL7 iBfwirSBW YifllKalL I hIHhEsSk' AW Omi Bl WLr fWi I wy'MBA fWWfeBf 'TJ'' 4 JRMiML MW rJHs i H' MB ill 1 r' Wk MmJ Vi wi jHk tH I I 4 Kil i 'tlAi V'a ylo wiv'tflk W' rt Wl LMm 'HEk': 'k Ilu Jr 4 fa mH BffL X3 'lech is no match for the Tigers who dominate tl iroughout and cruise to an easy home victory By Randy King randykingroanokecom 981 3126 BATON ROUGE La Virginia national title aspirations were blown away in a sea of purple and gold here Saturday night Exposing the ninth ranked llokies as mere pretenders rather than legitimate con tenders in front of 92739 fans and a national television audience No 2 LSU Tech with a 24 point salvo in the first 18 minutes and rolled to a 48 7 beatdown at Tiger Stadium The llokies (1 1) never knew what hit them in absorbing their worst loss in rank Beamer's 242 games as coach: It was the most lopsided loss for Tech in 25 years dat ing back to 1982 when coach Bill Dooley and his squad got spanked 45 0 by Vanderbilt Owning both sides of the ball the powerful Tigers (2 0) scored on four of their first five possessions in stockpil ing a 24 0 lead only 3:55 into the second quarter LSU outgained Tech 268 16 in the decisive flurry The llokies register a first down until the 14:03 mark of 1 the second quarter Meanwhile defense might as well have stayed KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times Virginia Cam Martin (left) chases after Brandon Laell during the first half of Saturday's game in Baton Rouge La Tech trailed 24 0 at the half See TECH 2 Rain wash away fact: Hokies not in No 2 LSU class Mcarling daronmcfarling I 1 i XJL 'Aaron 981 3222 BATON ROUGE La About 20 minutes before kick off the rain came A fierce rain A tropical rain Precipitation told is the great equalizer It softens the turf to slow the quick slicks the ball to make the sure handed awkward Osten sibly this would give underdog Virginia Tech a better chance at winning But as the rain pelted the crowd of 92739 nobody seemed to mind The fans simply roared a little louder They knew what the rest of us were about to find out: Nothing could equalize these teams The Hokies stepped up in class early this year and the results were devastating The offense ready the defense hang and No 2 LSU blasted the Hokies 48 7 at festive Tiger Stadium The imagination the hope the semblance of competitive ness all of il arrived too late By the time freshman quarter back Tyrod Taylor shed his redshirt and jogged onto the field the hosts led 24 0 Tay lor did what he could dazzling us with the spontaneity of his runs impressing us with the strength of his arm But for too long been the hero wait ing outside a clogged phone booth frantically checking his watch while the building burned See MCARLING 2 JMBBB i1 1 l'sx a wr wWBxW JY B' vjalii JOSH MELTZER I The Roanoke Times Virginia linebacker and Northside High School graduate Jon Copper (left) sacks Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis during the second quarter Saturday UVa good enough for Duke Tlic first win comes with the help of Peter Lalich By Doug Doughty dougdoughtyroanokecom 981 3129 CHARLOTTESVILLE orget that Virginia had trouble putting away a Duke football team that now has lost 22 games in a row All anybody wanted to talk about Saturday was the home debut of fresh man quarterback Peter Lalich sing his praises all day Virginia 24 sa'd teammate Chris Duke 13 Lon8 ULr th hers 24 13 victory at Next game Scott Stadium Virginia at wls so clUeless North Carolina whcn was his agc? Saturday Virginia (1 1 1 0 Noon ACC) required only five offensive plays to take a 14 0 first quarter lead but kick ing game woes found the Cavaliers clinging to a 17 13 lead after three quarters Head coach Al Groh inserted Lalich See UVA 3 Cavs improve While coach Al Groh said it wasn't perfect Virginia did: turn things around statistically LAST WEEK SATURDAY vs Wyoming vs Duke Rushing YDs 133 103 Essing YDs JQJ 471 Yards allowed 229 3 Points scored 24 com oanoke See a photo gallery of action by going to roanokecom Inside this section ACC East Carolina gets a field goal on the final play to beat UNC STATE opens with a dominating win over ranklin Marshall behind Jack Martin and Tom Pacicco 6 TOP 25 Steve Spurrier's mastery of Georgia continues as the Gamecocks spring an upset 6 MI 1 n3gg? to.